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November 14, 2024 Public Comment Submissions

Nov 13, 2024 | public comments

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
Select One
 Non-Agenda Item
Name
 Carmen Robles
Choose One
 Arizona Resident
Date
 11/12/2024
Subject
 Elias Robles Lovato (transportation)
Comments
 My name is Carmen Robles
I am here to fight for my grandson Elias Robles Lovato and I will not accept or give up fighting for him because ASDB has a policy that is causing language deprivation which means they’re not giving my grandson a chance to grow in language . This causes severe social and mental health. Elias needs language acquisition. I am here to protect him and ASDB needs to change this policy so my grandson can grow. An Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf only can do so much because he needs full immersion in ASL in a direct instruction of ASL in a classroom.
The policy states case by case so I’m fighting that he goes to ASDB without going to the dorm because my grandson has lost many things in his life. He has a twin whom they adore each other and they need each other after their mom died from breast cancer. I cannot take Elias away from his twin brother which will traumatize him more than ever. So change your policy so my grandson can grow.”
Thank you.
Carmen Robles

March 7, 2024 Public Comment Submissions

Mar 14, 2024 | public comments

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
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Non-Agenda Item
Name
Elizabeth Smith
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Parent of Current Student
Date
03/05/2024
Subject
Parent involvement
Comments
A few weeks ago, one of my children came home with a participation ribbon. I was not notified of a science fair happening nor were parents invited to support our children for their hard work. I would like to address the board to find ways to have parent involvement to support our students and teachers. I understand many students live far and would not have the same support as some students but we as parents can be the “parents” for those who don’t feel involved. This includes volunteering in the classrooms, etc.

January 11, 2024 Public Comment Submissions

Jan 9, 2024 | public comments

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
Select One
Non-Agenda Item
Name
Kimberly Aikins
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Current Staff
Date
01/09/2024
Subject
Master Facility Plan
Comments
The proposed consolidation of grades 1-12 into the currently-existing elementary building on the Tucson campus is concerning. Renovations in the current high school building for a new science lab were just completed within the last year, costing the agency nearly $200,000 and nearly 3 years to complete; having to recreate yet another science lab for our high school students seems like a waste of money. In addition, moving Kindergarten to the Birth to 5 center only removes about 10 students out of a current total enrollment of 125 students (which continues to grow). This means that we would be attempting to place approximately 115 students–ages 6-22–in the same building, which poses both impracticality and a safety issue of placing a significant number of adult-sized students in the same building as 6-year-old students.

September 7, 2023 Public Comment Submissions

Sep 6, 2023 | public comments

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
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Non-Agenda Item
Name
Marci Barenburg
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Arizona Resident
Date
09/05/2023
Subject
Policies and procedures not being followed and current leadership.
Comments
ASDB and Annette have continued to fail at following policies and procedures from a complaint form in the spring. Annette defended the principal in her investigating herself in a formal JII complaint when the policies clearly state that it should have been handled by someone else. I spoke to the president of the board about it and to this day the compliant for the JII and the KEB complaint were never completed per policies and procedures or corrected to be closer to following said policies and procedures. Annette quit responding after my first interaction with her on this matter.

Annette mentioned at a previous board meeting that the Nov 4th issue never made it to her desk. Parents should not need to utilize OCR and the state ombudsman’s office in order to see policies and procedures followed. When parents e-mail and speak at board meetings, these should be seen as formal complaints, and if they are not, then the principal or other leadership should be recommending parents to the appropriate forms. As of now parents have to dig through policies and procedures and learn as they go to be taken seriously.

This administration needs to stop considering themselves as the be all end all with no consequences.

July 20, 2023 Public Comment Submissions

Jul 19, 2023 | public comments

Submission 1

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
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Non-Agenda Item
Name
Dan McAlees
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Current Staff
Date
07/20/2023
Subject
Union
Comments
I wish to thank the Board for allowing me to present some of my thoughts. My name is Dan McAlees and I am a high school teacher for ASD Life Skills students. I have been teaching for 30 plus years. During this time I have seen staff have to go through some difficult situations with very limited support. This has led to staff retention problems and low work moral. I feel the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind Education Association (ASDBEA) would help with retaining staff and improve moral. By knowing that having a dedicated support group for staff not only on campus but representing our needs with the legislator is a positive moral builder.
Also ASDBEA and AEA can work with ASDB as a team when working with our state legislation and their representatives for the agency’s concerns and needs as well.
I hope the Board will recognize ASDBEA and work together for the good of the staff and ASDB agency.

Thanks for your time,

Dan McAlees

Submission 2

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
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Agenda Item
Name
Soren Mickelsen
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Current Staff
Date
07/18/2023
Subject
Item(s) 6.01 and 6.02 / Human Resources
Comments
Dear Board Members:

Thank you for your time today. I would like to make a public comment regarding action points 6.01 and 6.02 addressing schedule changes for pay as well as proposed salary increases. Action point 6.01 seeks to make a conglomerate of therapeutic staff on one Related Services Pay Scale reflecting now social workers, educational audiologists, psychologists, amongst Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapists. As a related service provider, my steps for pay have been recalibrated. We will soon be recognized for years of service with the agency, which I appreciate very much – now we can move up steps.

I wanted to share that during the recalibration process, there are staff whose rate either did not change or went below what they currently make. For those in this situation, they would need to acquire more years of experience before their income increases. Historically, a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was the only way related service providers could increase their salary. Action point 6.02 details plans for proposed salary increases. Teachers, some certified staff, and other part time / full time will be receiving a COLA – and it is much deserved.

Related services and other certified staff will not receive a COLA due to our recalibrated steps.
While the agency is moving in the right direction, I would further challenge it to understand that the cost of living goes up, and somewhat indefinitely for everyone. COLAs recognize this and when offered, communicate a sense of gratitude for doing a job we all love to do. ASDB has a clear goal in bringing forth the best when educating our children who are deaf/hard-of-hearing/visually impaired/Deafblind. ASDB could equally have a clear goal about committing to their employee’s financial well-being. Is it still possible to consider extending the COLA to all certified and non-certified staff whether full-time or part-time, including related service providers?

I appreciate your time to review my comment. And thank you for your commitment to our community be being here today.

Kindly,

Soren Mickelsen

May 11, 2023 Public Comment Submissions

May 10, 2023 | public comments

REQUEST TO ADDRESS BOARD
Select One
Non-Agenda Item
Name
Marci Barenburg
Choose One
Arizona Resident
Date
05/09/2023
Subject
PDSD Principal not following policies and procedures and lying to parents.
Comments
Within the ASDB policies and procedures there are timelines set in place on complaints as well as who can investigate certain complaints. The timelines are regularly not followed and in one instance, the principal at PDSD was allowed to investigate herself, which is also against the policy. When I filed a KEB complaint about it the Superintendent stated that the principal had been diligent, and Annette only responded to a small portion of what had been in the complaint. When I further responded, it was ignored. Stating someone was diligent without further explanation, does not make it so. The principal waited greater than a month to investigate a safety issue, changing her story multiple times while looking at notes. She expects perfect honesty and timeline recall more than a month after an event from a 10 year old, but can not herself provide that. I have this audio recorded and e-mails to back up these statements. The principal’s negligence in the situation led to a teacher having three orders of protection against her. On other JII complaints we requested to see video footage of what we were told the principal saw, and she said they would blur student faces and allow us to view it. This was never done. Per multiple staff members there are no cameras that directly face the W building that could see what the principal indicated she had seen. It is not ok for administration to lie to parents. This is only a small touch of the principal’s dishonesty that we have encountered.

This was the final straw for me and my family. We had to remove our student from this school. If we cannot trust administration, how can we trust our child is ok here? How can the Superintendent support dishonesty and lack of accountability from her principal?
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